It's July 10th 2010 and tonight's 3rd place play off game is underway - kick off was 7.30pm - in the Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth stadium. With Germany and Uruguay having already provided a substantial amount of World Cup goals, this match may still have a significant bearing on who wins this year's Golden Boot.
German and Uruguayan Top Scorers in the World Cup
Miroslav Klose and Thomas Muller of Germany are both on 4 goals apiece at the start of the play-off match. However, Klose is on the bench as he is carrying a back injury, so opportunities for increasing his goal count are limited. (He won it last time).
Diego Forlan is Uruguay's top scorer. He also starts the game with 4 World Cup goals under his belt.
World Cup Final Teams - The Top Scorers
The finalists Spain and the Netherlands, who play tomorrow, unsurprisingly also have their own leading contenders for the Golden Boot. And, of course, the chance to increase their own goal counts tomorrow. As things stand, the Netherlands Wesley Sneijder has 5 World Cup goals to his name, as does Spain's David Villa.
The Other World Cup Leading Scorers
Other leading scorers of the World Cup, who are now out of the running for the golden boot, include Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina, who scored 4 goals during the tournament, and Robert Vittek of Slovakia, who also scored 4 goals.
The Golden Boot, Silver Boot, Bronze Boot - Famous Winners
The Golden Boot is awarded to the overall top scorer of the competition. Then the Silver Boot goes to the next best scorer, and the Bronze Boot to the third. The recipients of these awards in the past are some of the best known names in football. Klose won it last time, in 2006, and before that in 2002 the Golden Boot went to Brazil's Ronaldo. Other famous names who have won the Golden Boot include Garrincha (Brazil), Eusebio (Portugal), Gerd Muller (Germany), Gary Linekar (England), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) and Davor Suker (Croatia).
The Yashin Award - Famous Winners
What about the World Cup shotstoppers? Well, they have their own award too. The Yashin award is given to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. This award is named in honour of Russian goalkeeping legend Lev Yashin.
Last time, in 2006, the award went to Italy's Gianluigi Buffon. Other famous names who have recieved this special award include Gordon Banks (England), Dino Zoff (Italy), Fabien Barthez (France) and Oliver Kahn (Germany).
Breaking News:
Thomas Muller (Germany) has scored in the play off match (19 mins). He is now joint leading scorer - 5 goals.
Cavani has equalised for Uruguay (28 mins).
Diego Forlan (Uruguay) has scored (51 mins). He is now also joint leading scorer - 5 goals.
Jansen has equalised for Germany ( 56 mins).
Khedira has scored for Germany (82 mins).
The game ends Germany 3 - 2 Uruguay, with four players now sharing contention for the Golden Boot. Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), David Villa (Spain), Thomas Muller (Germany) and Diego Forlan (Uruguay) have all scored 5 goals in the World Cup, with only tomorrow's final match to go.
And the Winner of the 2010 Golden Boot?
Quick edit here to say the winner turned out to be Thomas Muller of Germany. His 5 goals and 3 assists secured the coveted Golden Boot. He also took the award for young player of the tournament. Diego Forlan (Uruguay) won the Golden Ball - the award for player of the tournament - and Iker Casillas (Spain) won the Golden Glove (the new award for goal keeper of the tournament).
Michelle Strozykowski - Michelle Strozykowski lives in a small brewing town smack bang in the middle of England. She loves films, especially arty European ones ...
